Another Vanderbilt coach bites the dust

Vanderbilt will be hard-pressed to replace Johnson, who breathed life into a dead program. (The Associated Press)

Bobby Johnson sounded done. He sounded like a man who finally deter­mined it was better to leave Vanderbilt -- the SEC's foot­ball doormat, now and for­ever -- too soon rather than too late.

"Football is not life, but it's a way of life and it con­sumes your life," Johnson, 59, said Wednesday at a news conference announc­ing his retirement. "You only have so many years to live, and you want to see a different way."

The closest we came to learning exactly why John­son abruptly retired may have come when he ad­mitted "frustration" at com­peting on a different playing field than just about every other SEC program.

Rich Brooks, who stepped down from Kentucky in Jan­uary, said he was stunned by the timing of Johnson's retirement. But Brooks can relate to life at schools that historically reside at the bot­tom of the SEC.

"That would include Ken­tucky and Vanderbilt, and it's extremely difficult," Brooks said. "I'm sure with Vanderbilt's facilities among the lowest in the league, it makes it tough. To me, he did as good a job coaching as anyone in the conference for what he was working with."

Find any other SEC coach with Johnson's 29-66 record in eight years, and he would have been Ron Zooked by year three. In Nashville, Johnson was beloved.

He was a perfect fit for the private, academic-minded university and injected life into a dead program. "ESPNGameDay" actually came to Vanderbilt in 2008 during a season in which the Commodores ended their 26-year bowl drought.

Between 2005 and 2008, Johnson held his own with some prominent SEC coaches, posting a 6-7 record against Mark Richt, Tommy Tuberville, Steve Spurrier and Houston Nutt. Those four years marked unprecedented success for Vanderbilt.

And yet the Commodores still went only 21-27 overall and 10-22 in the SEC. Half of Johnson's conference losses in that span came by a touchdown or less, including two close defeats to Florida.

If not then for Vanderbilt, when?

Vanderbilt returned to being Vanderbilt last year. For the 18th time in the past 50 years, the Commodores went winless in the SEC. Try selling that ratio of losing to recruits and fans.

In the bigger picture, the departures of Johnson and Brooks continue a revolving door of SEC coaches. College football has become a young-man's game.

Johnson's retirement moves Les Miles, Urban Meyer and Spurrier into a tie for the second-longest active tenure at one SEC school, at six years, trailing only Richt. It seems as if Nick Saban came to Tuscaloosa only yesterday, but suddenly he ranks fifth.

Every SEC fan base now has expectations -- some much lower than others, of course. And yet this inconvenient fact still holds true: Someone has to lose.

Don't cry for SEC coaches. They choose this life and are paid handsomely, so much so that Johnson says he's in no rush to figure out his future plans.

But don't kid yourself about the toll the SEC takes on a coach. Meyer became the poster boy of the grind by resigning and returning within 24 hours last December, but he's hardly alone.

Richt tried explaining to me last spring what it's like. "You will pay a price physically, mentally and emotionally. . . . There's many times I've wondered, 'Have I spent the time I need to with my children and with my wife and with my family?' "

We may never know the full reason for the stunning timing by Johnson. Maybe he wanted to assure his staff of jobs for 2010 before a coaching search.

Only at Vanderbilt could an SEC coach retire a week before media days, three weeks before practice, and seven weeks before the season without a whiff of health problems or a scandal.

"Believe me, there's not a great time for a college football coach to retire," Johnson said.

Maybe not. But there are worse times, and July 14 would rank near the top of that unfortunate list for a program that perennially plays catchup against its competition.